Manny Díaz Jr.
Manny Díaz Jr. is an American politician who is currently serving as the president of the University of West Florida. Díaz served as the 28th education commissioner of Florida from 2022-2025. A Republican, Díaz was a member of the Florida Senate from 2018 to 2022, representing the 36th district, which encompasses the Hialeah area in northwest Miami-Dade County. He also served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2018, which encompassed parts of Hialeah and Northwest Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Background
Díaz was born in Hialeah, graduated from Miami Springs High School, and attended St. Thomas University, where he graduated with a degree in human resources in 1994. He then attended Nova Southeastern University, graduating with a master's degree in educational leadership in 1998. In 2006 Díaz completed the Harvard University Graduate School of Education Principal's Summer Institute as part of the Superintendent's Urban Principal Initiative.Education career
Secondary school teacher (1995-2013)
Díaz first worked as a teacher and baseball coach at Miami Springs High School. From 1995 to 1999, he taught social studies at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School, where he spent eight years as an assistant principal. In 2013, he was assistant principal at George T. Baker Aviation School, a public vocational school near Miami International Airport.Díaz denied allegations of discussions about drug use and inappropriate comments to a female student during his teaching career in the 1990’s The former student had made many positive comments on social media over the last decade including touting his years as a teacher before suddenly making these allegations two decades later, Díaz attributed the allegations to political attacks by a democratic marketing consultant who was employed by the Biden campaign in 2020.
In 2012, Díaz filed for bankruptcy, citing $1.3 million in debts as a result of dissolution of several business partnerships and properties.
Doral College (2013-2022)
From 2013 to 2022, Díaz worked for Doral College, a private college affiliated with the for-profit Academica charter school operator founded by Fernando Zulueta. For most of this time, he was its chief operating officer. Doral College was unable to receive accreditation by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; eventually it received accreditation from a national accreditor.The school’s general education courses are all listed on the state common course listing along with the state colleges.University of West Florida (2025-)
Díaz was named interim president of UWF starting July 14, 2025, following the resignation of Martha Dunagin Saunders. While interim president, he fired the university's general counsel after she objected to his hiring of Lawson Huck Gonzalez, a Ron DeSantis-linked law firm, as outside counsel for the presidential search.Díaz was appointed President of the University of West Florida on January 8, 2026, with a starting salary of $950,000. The selection process was characterized by allegations of procedural irregularities. Search requirements were changed to accommodate Díaz's lack of a doctoral degree, Diaz holds a graduate degree in Educational Leadership. Díaz's history as an advocate of charter school expansion was another matter of concern, even as universities are statutorily authorized to sponsor charters that may function as lab schools with each university.
Diaz has become very popular with students and university donors thanks to his relentless work as Interim President, insisting that the university is poised for incredible growth and record research funding. Diaz can be seen walking the campus and interacting with students and staff on a regular basis.
Political career
In 2010, Díaz ran for the Miami-Dade County School Board, but lost to Perla Tabares Hantman in the primary, receiving only 39% of the vote to her 61%.Florida House of Representatives
In 2012, following the reconfiguration of Florida House of Representatives districts, Díaz ran in the newly created 103rd district in the Republican primary against former state representative Renier Díaz de la Portilla and Alfredo Naredo-Acosta. Despite the nastiness and perceived closeness of the race, Díaz ended up defeating his opponents by a wide margin, winning 55% of the vote to Díaz de la Portilla's 39% and Naredo-Acosta's 6%. He faced only write-in opposition in the general election and won by a wide margin. Díaz went on to be re-elected in 2014 and 2016.He was Chair of the Choice and Innovation and K-12 Appropriations committee during his tenure. He was a key member of Representative José R. Oliva's team. Oliva rose to become the second Cuban-American speaker of the House in Florida.
Florida Senate
In 2018, Díaz was elected to the Florida Senate District 36, defeating Democrat David Perez 54.1% to 45.9%. His re-election bid received substantial funding from health care and education companies. Díaz was Chair of the Senate Education committee from 2018 to 2020 and chaired the Senate Health Policy committee from 2020 to 2022.During the 2022 legislative session, Díaz was the sole Republican to vote against the congressional redistricting plan, thus signaling his alignment to Governor Ron DeSantis.
Florida education commissioner
On June 1, 2022, he assumed the office of Education Commissioner after his predecessor, Richard Corcoran, stepped down. In 2024, the Florida Board of Governors eliminated sociology as a core course at its public universities. Díaz said, "Sociology has been hijacked by left-wing activists and no longer serves its intended purpose as a general knowledge course for students."Political positions
Education
While serving in the legislature, Díaz sponsored legislation that would "allow more private online education providers, some from outside Florida," to offer classes to public school students; allow students to take classes in public virtual schools in other counties, and require the Florida Department of Education "to create a catalogue of online offerings."He rejected allegations of conflict of interest when, in 2017, he sponsored, along with Richard Corcoran and Michael Bileca, legislation that directed $140 million of public funds to charter schools. The three men and their wives were involved in the charter school industry. Diaz’s wife was a non paid board member at a Tallahassee area classical charter school.
Díaz authored and sponsored the 2019 Family Empowerment Scholarship legislation and in 2020 a bill that significantly expanded publicly-funded vouchers for private schools, seen as the largest expansion of school choice in the nation by many. Florida is considered the top school choice state in the nation by many rankings thanks to this expansion.